Bold and Beautiful. That's what came to my mind when I finished watching this movie. Based in a remote arid village of Rajasthan, this movie by Leena Yadav bares the parched souls of 4 woman whose lives are entwined with each others.
Rani ( Tannishtha Chatterjee ) a young widow trying her best to support her teenage son and an old bedridden mother in law, Lajjo ( Radhika Apte), a young vibrant woman married to an alcoholic abusive husband who is taunted for her inability to conceive, Bijli ( Suveen Chawla ) a dancer with a travelling entertainment company and a prostitute and Janki ( Lehar Khan) the young child bride who is married off against her wishes to Gulab, Rani's teenage son.
Rani and Lajjo are fast friends from the same village and who look out for each other, while Bijli is an old friend of Rani ( considers her as a sister ) and is an worldly wise woman who advises Rani and Lajjo with their troubles.
The journey with these women will take you in their world of small pleasure, aspirations, hardships, helplessness etc. The movie is laden with situations of the hardship the women go through in the hardcore patriarchal society in-spite of trying to be economically independent ( these women have co-operatives to sell their embroidery work ). The episode where a young girl from the village is forced to go back to her in laws house by the parents, in-spite of her screaming her guts out that she did not want to go since she was being raped by any and all the men of the house hold including her father in law, will make you realize how gruesome the life of women could be.
From Rani's struggle in watching her Son taking the foot steps of her late alcoholic husband to Lajjo's sleeping with a total stranger in an attempt to get pregnant, "Parched" will keep you glued to the screen wanting to see "what next".
The casting of the movie was just perfect. Each of the women portrayed their role like they were born into it. I liked the fact that it was factual about the state of affairs of women in remote parts of Rajasthan and the social message was quite subtle and not on the face.
From Rani's struggle in watching her Son taking the foot steps of her late alcoholic husband to Lajjo's sleeping with a total stranger in an attempt to get pregnant, "Parched" will keep you glued to the screen wanting to see "what next".
The casting of the movie was just perfect. Each of the women portrayed their role like they were born into it. I liked the fact that it was factual about the state of affairs of women in remote parts of Rajasthan and the social message was quite subtle and not on the face.
Verdict :- 8 out 10. Cannot be watched with Children.
